Now, you might think Der's father-in-law would be happy to see him finally formulating a plan for his future.

But those close to the family believe Jim Bob would like to see Derick devote himself to a vocation with a more immediate return.

Derick will be 30 in a few months, and he has two young sons to support.

As you may recall, Dillard was fired from Counting On after launching a number of bigoted tirades on social media, which means his family is currently without any source of income.

So it's not hard to see why Jim Bob might like to see his son get into the family business of flipping houses or pursue some other venture that will translate to a weekly paycheck, rather than a mountain of student loan debt.

It's for that reason that some fans believe the timing of Jill and Derick's PDA selfie is no accident.

The photo comes just days after Jill confirmed on her blog that Derick will be going back to school in hopes of earning his JD:

"We will be remaining stateside for now as Derick is beginning law school at the University of Arkansas," Jill wrote.

"We look forward to seeing how God will continue to direct our family in this new chapter!"

We're sure Jim Bob is also very much looking forward to seeing exactly what direction Derick is headed in.